PIRATE BAY CO-FOUNDER MUST PAY RECORD LABELS $395,000

Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde may have thought he’d left the notorious site behind, but the legal system has other plans. The Helsinki District Court has just ordered him to pay $395,000 to record labels including Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI, after their content was shared illegally via the platform.

Content creators and distributors are some of The Pirate Bay’s most vocal critics, describing the platform as a piracy haven that deprives artists of their income.

However, in recent times criticism of the site has expanded to include one of the site’s founding members. Peter Sunde, aka brokep, is one of the most recognizable people in the file-sharing space yet he has openly called for the site to die, deriding it as a shadow of its former self.

But far from being able to leave the site behind as he physically did many years ago, Sunde – who has both Finnish and Norwegian ancestry – now finds himself in the midst of a new Pirate Bay related problem.

Following a ruling from the Helsinki District Court, the 37-year-old has been ordered to pay several major record labels around $395,000 (350,000 euros).

Sony Music Entertainment Finland, Universal Music, Warner Music, and EMI Finland sued Sunde claiming that the music of 60 of their artists has been shared illegally through The Pirate Bay.

Earlier court action means that Pirate Bay is blocked by Finnish service providers including TeliaSonera and Elisa but of course, this made no difference to the site’s operations.

Finland’s DigiToday reports that there is no accusation that Sunde shared anything himself but the lawsuit from the record labels held him responsible.

Sunde did not appear in Helsinki to defend himself so the Court handed down a default judgment. He is now ordered to pay the full amount plus costs of around $62,000 (55,000 euros) to the local branch of IFPI.

He also faces a fine of one million euros if the content continues to be shared via The Pirate Bay but how he is supposed to do anything about that isn’t clear.

Sunde and Pirate Bay co-founders Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm owe large sums of money to copyright holders following adverse decisions in cases dating back years. None of those judgments have been satisfied and there’s no reason to believe this one will be any different.